Hurricane Alex has passed but the aftermath of the storm continues to hamper cleanup and containment efforts. The Helix producer ship has been waiting to join the capture effort. This will allow a switch of containment caps, which facilitates connecting and disconnecting when storms come in, and might help relief-well efforts, but could mean free-flowing oil for a week to ten days.

Either EPA needs to say, “we’ve examined the response and based on our own investigation we agree that alternatives meeting our criteria are not available and so authorize BP to continue using its dispersant” . . . or . . . EPA needs to say “we do not agree and BP shall immediately cease its use of the dispersant and comply with our order.”